The Legend of Spyro: Never Again
by ThermalDmg1
Summary: After pulling the world back together, Cynder begins to have nightmares. R&R please.
1. Chapter 1

Spyro opened his eyes a little bit, just enough to let a sliver of light slide through his eyelids. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, careful not to alert anybody or anything nearby. If anything was nearby and looking for a fight, he would easily be overpowered due to the amount of energy he lost during the fight with Malefor.

After a few minutes of lying still, he finally felt safe and took a deep breath. Instantly he realized that was a mistake, because moments later he began harshly coughing out ashes.

When he was sure he expelled all the ashes from his system, he calmly got up and examined his surroundings, trying to remember what had happened after the fight. All he could recall was him and Cynder flying…

Cynder! His expression immediately went from calm to scared as he took off to scan the area. He forced down his powerful wings to get in the air, hovering there for a bit and rotating around.

Spyro's aerial search for Cynder came up with nothing, but he did find out where the ash was coming from. There was a huge volcano about a mile south of where he was, launching molten rock and volcanic ash into the air. It was pure luck that none of the magma came their way.

He decided to start another search for Cynder, except this time with a different tactic. This time he flew slowly and low to the ground, churning up the ashes with his wings. It was hard to see with all of the churned up ash in the air, but Spyro was positive he searched every inch.

"_Spyro!" _Spyro instantly recognized that voice, echoing off the natural stone walls. It was Cynder. "_Spyro!" _She called out to him again. He whipped around to the direction of her voice, clearer than the other time she yelled.

He spotted a low cave in a tall rock a few hundred yards from where he was. He quickly took off and flew towards it, knowing that's where she was.

As if on cue, the volcano gave an earth shattering roar, blasting out a sudden burst of lava, which began pouring down its sides. "_Spyro, hurry!"_

She was right; at the speed he was flying there was no way he could make it in time. Spyro angled his wings a little bit to sacrifice agility for speed. He was too high to directly fly into the cave, but that was part of his plan to dive into it.

The lava was advancing faster than expected; it was more than halfway to the cave. While spotting the lava, he saw Cynder, moving a huge rock near the entrance. She stopped so there was just enough room for him to get through.

Cynder said something else, but her words were interrupted by another explosion from the volcano. All of a sudden, Spyro was forced down, caught in a killer wind current that was carrying him straight into the lava.

Spyro shot open his wings, the wind catching him like a parachute, stopping him a few feet from the lava. The downdraft subsided, but it brought him closer to the cave than he expected. He closed in his wings just in time, the tips scraping against the entrance.

He barely made it through the gap in the rock, but before he could even turn around Cynder was moving the boulder over the opening. Spyro rushed over to help, using up the last bit of strength he had left.

Finally, the boulder was in place. Spyro, completely depleted of energy, collapsed where he was. Cynder, in the opposite state as Spyro, went to the back of the cave and snapped off a piece of green crystal.

Spyro heard the crystal breaking, and in return he propped up his head just in time for Cynder to place the crystal in front of him. He slowly extended his paw, absorbing some of its energy from afar, but most of it when he touched it.

It barely restored any of his strength, but it restored enough to perk him up. He could have gotten up, but there was no need because Cynder lay next to him. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"A little bruised up, but I'll recover." Spyro extended his wing and wrapped it around Cynder, who in turn snuggled closer to him.

Spyro gazed into Cynder's sleepy emerald eyes. "How about you?"

Cynder waited a little before responding. "I'm really tired," she finally said.

"Well, we better get to sleep, then." Cynder nodded, resting her head on Spyro's shoulder, falling asleep within seconds. However, it took Spyro at least an hour to drift away into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Spyro was the first to wake up, his sleep disturbed by a slight rumble from the volcano. He slowly opened his eyes and raised his head. The green crystal was the only source of light in the dank cave, and even that was losing its glow.

By the light of the crystal, he saw Cynder curled up in the corner, almost completely concealed in shadows. Spyro didn't want to wake her, so he went to the crystal and absorbed a small chunk, dimming it even further.

The crystal wouldn't last long, so Spyro hatched a plan and started ripping off dead vegetation from the wall, piling it in the middle of the cave. Once he had a decent pile, he shot a small stream of flame at it, turning it into a small campfire.

At the time Spyro ejected the fire from his mouth, Cynder awoke, her breathing coming in short and fast bursts. "Morning, Cynder," Spyro said.

Cynder jetted her head towards Spyro, a wide-eyed expression on her face. Spyro gave her a questioning look, and in return she backed against the wall. "Cynder, what's wrong?" Spyro had a hint of panic in his voice.

Cynder looked around the cave one more time before answering. "Spyro, it was a nightmare and," she hesitated. "Nothing…it was nothing." Her eyes began welling up with tears.

"C'mere," Spyro extended his wings. Cynder ran to him faster than expected, catching Spyro by surprise, but he quickly adjusted and held her tight. "Now tell me about that nightmare."

She broke away from Spyro. "No, it'll just scare you."

"Try me," he laid down in front of the fire, followed by Cynder.

"Well, you and I were walking in the desert, and you swiped at me with your tail. I assumed it was an accident, but then you shot at me with fire. Then I knew it wasn't an accident, and I tried to fight back, but you were too strong. And when I was too tired to fight anymore, you carried me into the sky, and I was falling, falling, until…" She stopped herself.

"Cynder," Spyro gazed deep into her eyes. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"I know, but…" She was interrupted by a wave of sobs, tears spilling over her cheeks, falling on Spyro's shoulder. "It was so real..."

--

Cynder recovered from her nightmare over the course of the day, and even though she was positive she was passed it, she refused to sleep that night. "Come on, Cynder, we'll need to be well-rested for the flight to Warfang tomorrow."

"No…they'll come back," she said. Spyro understood her phobia, but he was still worried about her.

No matter how hard Spyro tried, he only got about an hour of sleep that night.

The next day, both of them were extremely tired, but they pressed on to Warfang anyway. But before they left, they needed a plan.

Spyro drew a horizontal picture of the volcano in the dirt and sat in front of it with Cynder. "If we're going to get over of the ring of fire, we need to plan it. There's an updraft near the volcano, we need to ride it as high as possible." He drew a line with his tail moving up the side of the volcano in the dirt.

"We'll keep that altitude; if we need to we'll go higher." He drew another line going straight across, and then got up. "Ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Cynder got up and walked to the entrance, starting to push the rock away. Spyro went to help.

Once the rock was out of the way, they walked outside and examined where to go, the hardened magma still warm under their feet. They saw the volcano, took off and headed towards it.

The flight was short; they stayed low and skimmed the ground due to the density of the air. Before ascending the volcano, they took a short five minute break to catch their breath. "You think we'll make it?" Cynder asked.

"We have to," Spyro replied. They took off, riding the draft to the top.

The flight up was uneventful, both of them coasting most of the way, but they didn't go directly over the volcano for fear of it erupting right on them.

The volcano took them to about 750 meters, under the ring of fire's height of at least 900 feet. The poisonous gasses from the volcano mixed with the thin oxygen made it difficult to breathe, but they continued to climb.

Cynder started to feel dizzy at about 800 feet, but Spyro distracted her from it with stories he came up with from the top of his head. That seemed to calm her down, because she smiled with each new story.

Spyro looked down to evaluate their height, when something caught his eye. It was a small hint of scarlet, completely in the open with no obstructions around. He squinted his eyes in attempt to get a better focus, shockingly realizing what it was. It was another dragon, blue in color. The red he saw was blood, almost covering their entire body.

"Cynder, there's another dragon down there!" He shouted over the wind, which was getting stronger as they went on.

"Are you sure?" She looked down, searching the ground.

"Look, in the clearing." It wasn't hard for Cynder to find the dragon, since there was only one clearing for miles. She gave a shocked expression when she saw him.

Cynder looked at Spyro. "We have to help," she said.

Spyro stared down for a little longer. "You're right," he finally said. He folded in his wings, leaving a little slack for stability. Cynder followed close behind.

They descended in a fast downward spiral, eventually slowing for a landing.

Cynder had a beautiful touchdown, gently settling down on the ground with perfect poise. Spyro, however, pulled out of his dive too late, skidding on his stomach in the ashes.

He was sure Cynder would have laughed, but she was already examining the dragon. Spyro instantly rushed over to help. He didn't really know what to do, but Cynder apparently did.

She took a little time to clean a huge rip on his chest, but eventually gave up. "He's dying fast, it's lucky we got here when we did." She said with sadness in her voice.

"Will he live?" Spyro asked.

"He might, we need to apply pressure, and he's still bleeding, which is a good sign." Spyro wondered how Cynder got so skilled with the medical stuff, but he mostly wondered how bleeding is possibly a good sign. However, he didn't question it.

Cynder began harvesting leaves from the ground that blew in from somewhere or other. She went over to the dragon, pressing the leaves on his wound. "Spyro, help me hold these," he obeyed, balancing on his hind legs and applying slight pressure with the front.

Cynder was already running to the rocks, tearing off the greenest vines she could find, running back when she had enough. "Keep holding the leaves, Spyro." She began tying the vines around his body, making a crude, green bandage.

"Now what?" Spyro asked.

"All we can do is wait," she responded. Spyro looked helplessly at the blue dragon, who was now distinguishably blue now that most of the blood was cleaned off. "Spyro," Cynder sighed.

"Yeah, Cynder?" Spyro averted his gaze from the blue dragon to Cynder.

"Don't worry, he'll be okay." Spyro laid down where he was, fatigued from the failed flight over the ring of fire. He patted the ground next to him with his paw, a gesture for Cynder to come next to him. "Someone needs to watch our blue friend here," she said, making a gesture to the dragon.

"I'll do it, you need to sleep," Spyro said and got up. Cynder wanted to argue, but saw no point in it and lied down.

"By the way, Spyro," Cynder said as she closed her eyes. "Nice landing."

Both of them smiled, Cynder falling asleep within seconds of her comment. However, Spyro's smile was short-lived, vanishing off his face when his eyes fell upon the blue dragon. He sighed deeply.

_Whoever you are, _Spyro thought, _please be okay._


	3. Chapter 3

Spyro stayed awake all night, or day, he couldn't tell because of the dark clouds of ash. He waited hours on end for either Cynder or the blue dragon to wake, but with every hour came nothing. Occasionally, he slightly amused himself by matching his breathing with Cynder's, but it got tired out really fast.

He almost fell asleep several times himself, but pushed himself past it with willpower and motivation. But finally, just as he was about to surely fall asleep, the blue dragon stirred. Spyro knew the dragon was awake now, but he stayed quiet to make him feel secure.

Apparently it worked, because after a few minutes he opened his eyes and looked around. When his eyes rested on Spyro, he instantly panicked and got up in a defensive position. "Explain yourself, now, before I blast you to hell," he said. Spyro didn't expect him to be that violent.

"I'm Spyro," he said, "Cynder and I saw you were hurt when we were trying to fly over the ring of fire, and we couldn't leave you to die."

"Who's Cynder? Why did you help me? Why are you inside the ring?" He asked, arming an attack.

"Well, in order, that's Cynder," he made a gesture towards Cynder, who was still deep in sleep. "Why we helped, well, that was just how we were raised. And why we're inside the ring, I'd rather not say."

"Say or die," he said, his aggression increasing with every sentence.

"Well…" Spyro told him the story, starting from when they went through the ring, over the course of which the blue dragon calmed down.

The blue dragon waited a little after Spyro finished, taking some time to soak in what was just told to him. "You killed him?" he finally asked with awe.

"Actually, we imprisoned him, but he's not going anywhere." The dragon stared at him, amazed. "What's your name, anyway?" Spyro asked.

He paused for a moment. "For now, call me Nine."

"Why, don't you have a name?"

"It's a long story," Nine sighed.

"I've got time," Spyro said, glancing at Cynder.

"Well," he sighed, "fine, I can trust you." He took a deep breath. "Malefor had, let's say ideas. One of his ideas was for a non-purple dragon to have all four elemental breaths. He captured me and two of my friends, um, Five and Seven, so he could test on us. Five was a red dragon, Seven was green." Spyro wondered if Five and Seven had other names too, but he waited and listened. "The numbers he gave us soon became our names, as everyone in the castle started addressing us by our numbers. We tried to use our real names amongst each other, but we were separated too often, and eventually we forgot what our names were.

"The first few months were easy; all he did was test our physical condition so we would…survive the real tests. The next couple months weren't too bad; we were just injected with different mixtures so we would be affected. Then the last months, those were a living hell. The only theory he had for our bodies to harbor the element was to blast us with it. They put us in sealed rooms and somehow filled it with an element. Five died the first day of testing, within seconds of being hit by the elements.

"Seven, remarkably, gained all other three elements, but she escaped the next day. Everyone in the castle said that she only escaped because she had all four elements. In return, I was guarded more heavily. I was constantly in chains, and I didn't go anywhere without an escort. But finally, after three years, it ended.

"A rumor was spreading around the castle like a virus, about two dragons named Spyro and Cynder. They feared that you would free me, so they killed me off, or at least that's what they thought. They slashed my chest, and dumped me here. So here I am."

Spyro looked again at Cynder, who was laying the same way, only awake. After traveling with her for so long, he knew when she was awake. He wondered how long she had been listening. "Cynder, you don't need to fake it anymore." At first she didn't do anything. "Cynder, I know you're awake." Finally, she sighed and got up.

"How long have you been awake?" Nine asked nervously.

"Long enough," Cynder replied, shooting him a look she gave Spyro all the time. "So how _did _that testing go?"

"Well, I'd rather not say." It looked like he was going to faint, but he stood his ground.

"Say or die," Cynder said, quoting him exactly.

"Come on, Cynder," Spyro said, trying to break in.

"No, no, it's ok. The truth is, well, the testing backfired, and now my element's gone." There was a slight pause. "Go ahead, laugh," he said. Cynder tried to be polite by holding it in, but eventually couldn't take it anymore and fell to the ground, laughing for about five straight minutes.

While Cynder was laughing, Spyro took the time to closely examine Nine. He was about the same age as Spyro, with dark blue wings, the same color as his crest and underbelly. The spade at the end of his tail had a diamond shape, which was black. His horns closely resembled Spyro's horns; only in a shade of blue so light it almost looked green. But the thing about him that stood out most, were his eyes, the color always glazing over a new shade of red, the only part of his body that wasn't blue.

Finally, Cynder calmed down and got up, her eyes tearing up from laughing so hard. "No element?" Cynder laughed. "You've gotta be kidding."

"Try me," he said.

"Ok," Cynder said, "hit me, hard as you can."

"I wouldn't feel comfortable attacking you," he said, trying to back out of it.

"I dare you." She shot a bit of shadow around his feet.

"Fine," he walked up to her slowly, slashing at her with his tail.

"Is that it?" she asked, blocking his attack easily with her wing.

"No, but again I'm not comfortable attacking you." Cynder attacked him with wind this time, knocking him back.

"Ok, fine, you've inspired me." He walked up slowly again, slashing with his tail, again. Cynder blocked, but instead, this time, Nine slid across the ground, swiping his tail with him, tripping Cynder. When she was still trying to recover from her fall, Nine flipped her over and put a paw on her neck. "So, how'd I do?" He flipped over the paw on her neck, an attempt to help her up.

Cynder denied the help, blushing a little as she got up. "I—I wasn't ready," she said, making a quick excuse.

"Are you ready now?" Nine asked.

"Um…yeah, I am." Nine repeated the maneuver; the only variation was a missed shadow attack.

"I think I've proven myself," Nine said, offering to help her up again. Cynder blushed even more, brushing imaginary dirt off herself.

"Uh, I was distracted," Cynder said, making another excuse.

"Cynder, I think you lost."

"Fine," she seethed, glaring at Nine.

"Hey," Nine said defensively, "you challenged me." Cynder only got angrier, but didn't say anything.

--

"Nine, do you think you'll be okay to fly to Warfang tomorrow?" Spyro asked.

"I don't know, I haven't flown in three years."

"Go practice, now," Cynder commanded. Nine sighed and took off with horrible form. Cynder made sure he was out of earshot before talking to Spyro.

"Cynder, you don't have to—" He was cut off by Cynder putting a paw over his mouth.

"Spyro, I had another nightmare," she whispered. "Only this one was worse than last night." It looked like she was about to cry, but she held strong.

"What was this one about?" Spyro asked.

"You and I were walking in a dark hallway, and we came to a room, and you attacked me. You put me in chains and shackled me to the wall and…and—" Her eyes began welling up with tears. "And you tore my wings off." She said it fast, wanting it to end as soon as possible.

Spyro shuttered at the thought of ripping off Cynder's wings, swearing to himself that he would never think of it again. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. It was all he thought about until Nine landed.

Cynder backed up as he touched down. "I still need practice, but I can fly to War—hey, what's wrong with her?" Spyro looked back at Cynder, who was lying down, staring at the ground, a tear dropping into the ashes.

"Nothing, she's fine," Spyro said, turning Nine away from her.

"Here, try taking off like this." He took off, Nine mimicking it perfectly, hovering next to Spyro. "When we ride the volcano's updraft, you need to angle your wings like this." He tilted his wings, the way that increased agility. Nine lost some altitude when he did it, but quickly recovered. "Then when we clear the volcano, like this." Spyro angled his wings for lift. "Then dive and land." He dove fast to the ground, landing much better than the first time he landed there. Nine did it too, but not as gracefully.

They practiced landing and taking off for a while, but eventually moved on to the flying styles. Nine did well on all of them. "So how did I do?" Nine asked.

"You're as ready as you can get," Spyro responded. "Now get some sleep, the flight is a lot longer than it looks." Both of them swooped down and made a perfect landing, no side movement at all. Nine was asleep within seconds of landing.

Spyro walked up to Cynder, who was still lying on the ground. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"No," Cynder answered truthfully. "I'm scared about these nightmares, what if I have them for the rest of my life?"

"Come on," Spyro said. "Don't talk like that, they'll go away eventually."

"What about tonight?" she asked.

Spyro draped his wing over Cynder. "I'm not going anywhere." Cynder stared into Spyro's eyes, hers still teary.

Spyro closed his eyes and rested his head on the ground, disturbing images swimming around in his head.

"I know," said Cynder, putting her head near Spyro's. "That's what worries me." She closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

The last thing Spyro remembered before falling asleep, was biting down hard on Cynder's wing and pulling hard, feeling her flesh give way.


	4. Chapter 4

When Nine woke up, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Spyro and Cynder cuddled up near the side of the clearing, still asleep. He didn't want to wake them, so he decided to practice flying even more.

After a few minutes of flying, he began to get a little hungry, also thirsty. However, this raised a problem; there was no food or water. And in the charred wasteland they were in, he was pretty sure they wouldn't find any inside the ring. He landed and sat down to save energy.

Finally, after twenty long minutes, Cynder awoke with a jolt, churning up some of the ashes around her into the air. "Hello, Cynder." He would have said 'good morning,' or any variation of the phrase, but he didn't know if it was morning or not.

"Uh, hi Nine," she said, glancing over at the volcano, erupting as if on cue. Lava began heavily flowing from the top. "We need to move, fast."

She jostled Spyro, nudging his shoulder to wake him up. He woke up slowly, still wanting to sleep. "What, what?" He said, annoyed.

"Get up, we're leaving for Warfang," Cynder said, pushing him to his feet.

"Now? It's too early."

"No, it's not, get up." She shot a bit of wind in his face to get him woken up, which seemed to work.

"Ok, fine, I'm up. Let's go to the volcano." He took off and flew to the volcano, not caring to hide his aggravation. Cynder and Nine struggled to keep up.

Spyro had to wait at a rock shelf for Cynder and Nine to arrive, and by the time they got there, he had completed thirty paces on the shelf.

Spyro calmed down during the updraft ride, using smoother, more controlled movements.

When they cleared the volcano, they immediately began ascending. Cynder, once again, became dizzy halfway through the ascent. Spyro repeated some of the stories he told her the last time they tried to get over the ring. But, Nine usually jumped in the story when Spyro broke to take a breath or think of a new line, and eventually it became a sort of contest. After Nine and Spyro both became dizzy, the story telling to calm down Cynder soon calmed down all three of them.

As they continued to get higher to pass over the ring, the harder it became to climb. They couldn't glide as often, so they had to beat their wings harder and faster to keep airborne. "Is anyone else hungry?" Nine asked, his stomach almost drowning out the sound of the wind.

"Thanks for bringing it up," Cynder said, her previous hunger coming back at the mention of it.

"No, not really." Spyro was probably the strongest of the group, so he could go on a bit longer without food.

Trying his best to ignore his hunger, he glanced at the ring. They were about a hundred yards away, and still about fifty feet too low. _Higher, higher, higher! _Nine thought furiously, beating his wings like never before, his strength quickly diminishing.

He took note of Spyro and Cynder's height, both of them at least twenty feet above him.

They were almost there, Nine could feel the strong heat radiating from the ring and onto his body. _Higher! Higher! _He screamed it in his mind, attempting to motivate himself. It seemed to have worked.

Seconds before the ring engulfed his entire body, his broad wings caught the warm, rising air and carried him past the ring. The flames barely licked his underbelly.

The ring wasn't very wide near the top; they passed over it in a few seconds. After they were sure they had completely passed over it, they dove for the ground, not bothering to glide.

A small amount of land that bordered the ring was just like the inside, but it quickly faded into a lush green oasis. The trio cleared the border easily.

The second they touched down, they collapsed into the grass, almost dying of fatigue. However, Nine regenerated his fatigue remarkably fast.

He stood up within minutes of landing, feeling the grass under his paws, brushing his wings on the greenery all around him. "Finally," he whispered to himself. "I'm free."

Spyro was the next to stir, surprised at how fast Nine recovered. "So," he said, "how is it outside the ring?"

Nine could have gone on for hours about how amazing it all was, but he summed up most of it with one sentence. "It's what I've been dreaming about for three years."

Spyro couldn't help feeling sorry for him; he couldn't imagine how hard it must be to be voided of the outside world and flying for three years.

Cynder then got up, still a bit devoid of energy. "That," she said, "was too high. Why couldn't we go through it like the first time?"

Spyro's face turned expressionless, remembering how Ignitus sacrificed himself to get them through the ring, also how he turned dark.

Nine tried escaping the conversation by looking up to the sky, catching a glimpse of what it looked like without black clouds of gas looming above. "Hey look, fruits!" He spotted brightly colored fruits in the canopy of a tree.

Spyro was much too tired to go up and gather fruits, so Nine went up and snapped them from their branches. Spyro caught them with his wings before they smashed on the ground.

Once they had a small pile of fruits, Nine returned to land.

They all lay down around the pile. "Ladies first," Nine said politely, nudging the top fruit towards Cynder. It rolled down the side of the pile, landing at her paws.

"Thank you," she said. Cynder would have said more, but she was starving. She took a bite out of the fruit, not bothering to pick it up.

She chewed for a bit then swallowed, her eyes growing wide. "It's amazing," she said, rolling herself another fruit. Spyro and Nine did the same.

The small pile of fruits they had gathered vanished in seconds, each of them getting the same amount. All that was left of the fruits was odd purple seeds.

Spyro gazed southward, the direction of Warfang. However, he couldn't see far due to a sheet of fog rolling across the landscape. Nine and Cynder were staring at him, waiting for him to make one of his leaderly decisions. "I guess we'll leave tomorrow," he finally said. "Now, we need sleep."

Nine looked up to the sky again before falling asleep under a bush. Spyro wondered how he could fall asleep so fast, but his thoughts were interrupted by Cynder. "Spyro, it happened again," she whispered.

"Tell me," Spyro responded.

"This was the worst of them all. I was walking down a hallway, which seemed to go on forever. The walls were smeared with blood, and dead dragons were everywhere. Then, I came to the end of the hallway, and you were there. I was going to ask what had happened, but I saw you ripping out the throat of another dragon. After you finished killing him, you turned to me. I ran away as fast as I could, but you caught up and grabbed my tail. You smiled at me, your teeth almost completely red, and…" Spyro didn't need to hear the rest; he could fill in the blanks.

Spyro was about to lie down next to Cynder when she stopped him. "Maybe we should sleep…farther away from each other," she said. It broke Spyro's heart, but he knew it was for the best. He sighed and took a few steps off to the side, Cynder moving in the exact opposite direction.

Spyro lay down in front of the tree that produced the fruits, the moon beaming down on him. Cynder was near Nine, who was sleeping like a rock. For some reason she felt safe around him.

Spyro gave Cynder one last smile before closing his eyes and falling asleep. Long after Spyro fell asleep, Cynder lay awake in the darkness, eyeing Spyro from the shadows. Eventually, her sleepiness got the better of her and she drifted in and out of sleep.

About halfway through the night, when all of the dragons were asleep, a jet black raven landed at the tip of a tree, casting a shadow directly over Spyro's body.


	5. Chapter 5

When Spyro awoke, something was very wrong. Instead of feeling the grass he fell asleep on, there was a cold, flat surface. He opened his eyes and stood up, looking about frantically.

At times like this it didn't take Spyro a while to wake up, but normally he woke up very slowly.

He recognized where he was, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He was on a floating platform that was hovering in the middle of a black void. The only thing set out of place was a single green crystal, directly in the center of the platform.

With nothing else to do, he went up to the crystal and put a paw on it. But instead of his body sapping the crystal's energy, it broke apart and hovered around his head. He knew this from before; it was just like in the Catacombs.

He jumped a bit when a voice came before him. "You've come far from the center of the earth, young dragon," the voice said.

Spyro instantly recognized the voice. He looked up from the crystal, to see Ignitus on the far side of the platform. "Ignitus!" he cried in excitement, performing a jump over the crystal. He stopped halfway in between.

Ignitus looked different than before, he almost looked like…"Ignitus, are you―?" He stopped himself.

"Yes, I am the new chronicler," Ignitus said. Spyro wanted to ask a wave of questions, but he was caught up in Ignitus' new look. Instead of his firey red color, he was now a mixture of steel blue and white. He had on a huge necklace with all sorts of things on it, but what mostly caught his eye was a trinket that resembled a small lantern directly in the front. Of all of his changes, the one thing that looked the same was his eyes, which seemed to peer into his soul. (And being the chronicler, he probably could.)

"Spyro, I understand you have hundreds of questions, but those are for another time. Now, I need you to give something to Nine." A small necklace materialized in front of Spyro's head, but it soon fell and landed on his nose. Spyro went cross-eyed for a moment to look at it.

"What is it?" Spyro asked.

"Just deliver it to Nine, he'll know what it is."

"Ignitus, I need you to answer one question," Spyro said slowly.

"What would that be, young one?" he said.

Spyro sighed. "Is…is Cynder okay?"

"Ah, I had a feeling you would ask that," Ignitus chuckled. Spyro didn't realize how that was funny. "Unfortunately, I cannot answer that. All I can say is that you, Cynder, and Nine all have to work together to overcome them." He started to disappear.

"Ignitus, wait!" Spyro shouted out, but it didn't stop him. Ignitus soon vanished.

"Someone new will also join your travels, but I cannot reveal who just yet." He disappeared with the last two words he said.

_Spyro! _He heard another voice coming from the abyss. _Spyro, wake up! _He knew it was Cynder, but the problem was that he didn't know how to escape. He soon found the answer.

The world around him began to fade, melting into the blackness surrounding the platform. Soon he was completely ensnared in darkness. Seconds later, he began to feel a rush, the real world coming back to him.

Spyro awoke with a sudden jolt, his mind rushing to recollect his thoughts. He got up almost instantly, shooting open his eyes.

Before he had time to think, Cynder was hugging his neck with her forelegs. "Oh Spyro, we thought were dead!" she said, squeezing him tighter. Cynder's sudden move surprised him, and all he could think to do was wrap his wings around her.

"Cynder…you're…too tight," Spyro said, Cynder choking him. She loosened her grip, but didn't let go. Spyro took a deep breath as soon as possible. "Why did you think I was dead?" he asked.

"You were asleep for three days," Nine jumped in. As Nine said those words, Spyro remembered the necklace, which was now on the spade of his tail.

"Spyro," Cynder said. "What happened?"

Spyro thought of what to say for a moment, and then began. "Ignitus is the new chronicler. He wanted me to give Nine this." Spyro tossed the necklace over to Nine with his tail, and then continued. "I wanted to ask millions of questions, but I only got one out." He broke Cynder's embrace and looked into her eyes. "I asked if you were okay…you know, with the nightmares." Spyro could see a mixture of hope and love in her eyes.

"And?" she asked.

"All he said was that we had to work together to overcome them," he sighed. "He also said that someone else will 'join us in our travels,' he didn't say who."

"Spyro," Nine jumped in a second time. "Do you know what this is?"

"No, Ignitus said you would know."

"Remember Seven, who I told you got all four elements and escaped?"

"Yes," Spyro said, curious.

"She gave this to me before we were captured by…" he stopped himself.

"Say it, I don't care," Cynder seethed.

"Ok, she gave this to me before we were captured by her men, but the scientists took it from me, and I saw them drop it into the volcano." He dropped it over his head with his tail, looking down at it. "It looks exactly the same."

A few minutes passed of total silence, the only sound that filled the air was the wind whipping around the branches of the trees. "So, should we leave for Warfang?" Spyro asked.

"Sure," Cynder responded. "Nine?"

Nine was still examining his necklace, but looked up when he was called. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure."

They all took off at almost the exact same time, flying in a V shape with Spyro at point. There was a much stronger headwind than any of them expected. "If we fly at this speed, we'll probably be at Warfang in two days," Spyro announced.

He noticed that the fog from, well, three days ago was still barely below the canopy, which could make it hard to find a spot to land. When he looked up from the fog, he could see a few of the taller building spires of Warfang on the horizon.

--

After they had been flying for over fourteen hours against the unwavering headwind, each of their wings was burning, screaming at them for a rest.

Spyro kept scanning the trees to find a clearing or something that could allow them to land. It wasn't until they hit the fifteen hour mark. He found a small circle of trees, which was the only clearing he found for miles. "There's a clearing down there, circle around and land," Spyro shouted over the wind.

They veered to the right a bit and passed it, then soon glided to the left.

When Spyro came close enough to the ground, he could see that the clearing was dotted with beautiful flowers over small fields of sparkling vines.

Something caught his eye in the center, like a ripple in water, but it wasn't water, that was clear. The parts that weren't covered in vines were grassy. Then something set off a red light in Spyro's head. A piece of wood was gently gliding over the clearing off to the side, slightly disturbing the grass around it.

"Don't land!" Spyro yelled out. "Don't land!" He wasn't sure if they understood why, but they obeyed. Spyro's feet cleared the grass, which wasn't grass at all, merely an illusion in water, by inches. Nine's tail barely pierced the surface, sending a small ripple spreading outwards. Both of them pulled out into a tight circle.

Cynder, however, wasn't so lucky. Almost half of her body got submerged in the water, and she would have gotten out if it wasn't so thick with vegetation. She quickly got entangled within the vines, instantly thrashing in the water in attempt to free herself. "Cynder, stop struggling, you're making it worse!" Nine shouted down to her.

"What am I supposed to do, drown?" Nine didn't respond, instead he looked at Spyro, who thought up a quick plan.

"Cut the vines," he said to Nine. He nodded and swooped down. Spyro made another circle before following him.

Nine flew in low right above Cynder, slashing the vines along her back with a stroke of his tail. Spyro then came in to pull her out, but soon realized he couldn't. The reason was that new vines were already cocooning her body, as if they had minds of their own.

"New plan, cut the vines under her," Spyro said to Nine. Nine didn't much understand how, but nodded. This time Spyro flew in first, bringing his arms around Cynder's body, and pulled up for all he was worth.

Nine then understood, gliding very close to Cynder, cutting the vines that were pulled out of the water. It took several flybys, but it worked.

Spyro quickly flew into the trees, his wings forced to fold in because of how close together the trees were. It didn't take long for his fatigue to catch up to him.

His wings burned as if on fire, soon giving way with the extra weight. Spyro and Cynder rolled on the ground, being stopped by a series of rocks and finally a tree.

Cynder was knocked out by the collision with the tree, the back of her head coming down hard on the rough surface.

Spyro thought back to the time he had first carried Cynder, flying out of the portal with her unconscious body. That was the last thought he had before slipping away into blackness.

* * *

**Yes, the dreaded author's note. I only really give these when I feel like I have something to say, so here it is. The reason why this chapter is so crappy and somewhat dark is because I lost the remote to my TV and my DotD disc snapped in half when my friend returned it to me.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Cynder, get up," Spyro said, shaking Cynder's shoulder slightly. She was still crumpled up in front of the tree, not moving an inch after she got knocked out. "Wake up." Spyro had given her twelve hours to sleep.

"Ugh, what, are we leaving for Warfang?" she said sleepily.

"Yeah, get up." She did, slowly, wincing in pain as she lifted herself.

"What happened yesterday?" Cynder asked.

"You almost got eaten by a plant and you lost a fight with a tree," Nine said, already hovering above. "So are we leaving or what?" Spyro and Cynder both responded by taking off, heading south.

--

The flight to Warfang was uneventful, except for the continuation of their story telling game.

Finally, the gate came into view, welcoming the trio to Warfang as they approached. They landed before they went through the gate, walking through as is customary when entering.

Warfang was in chaos, moles and dragons both running and flying around in attempt to repair the ruins of the once glorious city. "Spyro!" a dragon called from above.

He looked up and smiled, seeing Volteer diving down to the courtyard. He landed hard on the stone with a crash. "This is glorious; the majority of us surmised that you were dead! Oh, and you've acquired a new companion!" Spyro didn't know what half of his words meant, but he could fill in the blanks.

"I'm Nine," he said. Volteer looked a tad confused.

"Your name is a number? Do you not have an alternate appellation?"

"Uh, no, it's just Nine. I had a separate name, but I forgot it."

"Do tell," Volteer said.

Nine went about telling the long story of how he became captured and taken for testing, when he was almost killed and abandoned, and everything in between.

"A most fascinating tale," Volteer said after he finished. "Perhaps we may locate your file in the dragon archives. But for now, there is a meeting at the statehouse with the other realm leaders, and they shall be starting shortly, I shall meet you all there." He took off and headed for the tallest building in the city, the top half of which broken off.

The air traffic was heavy, but as they flew to the tower, the dragons all around them swerved away to avoid collision. They reached the tower in no time.

When they landed near the tower, they were greeted by four carvings, one for each element, on the door. There was a mole standing guard, but when he recognized Spyro and Cynder he threw a lever. Soon after, the door opened. "So, nervous?" Spyro asked Cynder.

"A little, you?"

"Sort of."

Inside the base of the tower, there was another wooden door which was charred black. They passed through it and entered the central room.

In the center of the room, there was a huge, round, stone table that took up the majority of the center. A map of the land decorated the center. But the most important part of the room was the other dragons of all shapes, sizes, and colors surrounding the table. Spyro, Cynder, and Nine stood by Volteer.

"Everyone, I would like to acquaint you with these dragons," Volteer announced. "You all know of Spyro." The other leaders perked up with interest.

"This would be Nine, just Nine." The others looked confused, just like everyone else who heard his name.

"And who would this beautiful young dragoness be?" a red dragon next to Spyro said. Cynder blushed a tad at the comment.

"Well," he said. "This is Cynder." The others averted their attention to Cynder and gasped. They all knew of her infamy, which was known in all of the realms. Knowing this, Cynder put her head down in shame.

* * *

**Sorry about the short chapter, I wrote this in the morning before school and I had some major writers block.**


	7. Chapter 7

**April fools, guys.**

"They hate me," Cynder said. They had left the meeting about an hour ago, and they were now resting in a small house given to them by Volteer.

"No, they don't, they just need to give you a second chance," Spyro said.

Cynder sighed and looked down. "I doubt they will." She began to walk away, but Spyro stopped her with his wing.

"They will, I know they will." He turned her head gently, so that they were staring into each others eyes. "I did, and if I didn't, none of us would be here today."

She gave him a slight smile, knowing he was right. Spyro returned the smile instantly.

Cynder was still a bit scared of Spyro, but now, she ignored it. She hugged him tight, Spyro quickly returning it. "Spyro," she said.

"Yes, Cynder?"

"I'm scared," she said quietly.

"Hey, c'mon," he responded, gently patting her back. "They'll pass."

"What if they don't?" Cynder paused a moment. "What if I'll be stuck thinking you're a monster for the rest of my life?"

"You know that I'm not a monster."

"You're right," she sighed. "But something is saying that you are."

"That doesn't matter," Spyro said, breaking the hug. "All that matters is that you know."

Cynder sighed, turning towards her bedroom, when Nine came bursting through the door. "You'll _never _guess who I just ran into." He turned away, making a gesture to someone.

It was a little while before a beautiful green dragoness emerged from the door. "Hello," she said shyly, not stepping into the house.

"This is Kiari," Nine said, gently nudging her in. "You may know her as Seven."

Spyro and Cynder both gasped, their eyes growing wide. "Does she…"Spyro began.

Kiari sighed. "Yes," she said. "All four."

**I know how impossibly short that was, but I've still got writers block. Once it gets good, I'll be shooting out a chapter every three days.**


	8. Chapter 8

Kiari jumped onto Nine's bed, shaking him violently. "Get up," she whispered, careful not to wake Spyro or Cynder.

"Agh, what is it?" Nine said sleepily, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.

"Nine, I…" she paused, taking a breath. "I know your real name."

Nine almost instantly jumped out of the bed, surprise and relief mixing together to give him a sharp jolt. "You do? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I had to wait until the right time." She looked out the window and sighed. She thought back to all the countless hours of torture at the fortress, the pure anguish she felt when her body sapped up the elements. "It's Renkin." She looked back into his eyes. "Your name is Renkin."

--

Miles away, almost on the other side of the planet, a dragon, black as midnight, flew into a barely visible cave. Se gracefully landed at the mouth, walking in slowly to be greeted by the glow of black candles.

Upon seeing the inner part of the cave, she stopped. The inner cave was protected by a narrow opening, the sharp, pointy rock formations giving it the impression of entering a creature's mouth. She pressed her wings tight against her body, passing slowly.

Her face showed a grimace as the 'teeth' dug deep into his flesh and tore at her wings. A small trail of blood marked her trail, slightly shining in the faint glow.

Finally, she reached his destination. At the heart of the mountain, a chamber had been created by a small pocket of lava long ago. When the lava had drained, it left a dark crystal seeded deep into the ground.

The dragon stared at the crystal, mesmerized by it as she often was by its evil magic. She flashed a quick smile, knowing what was about to come.

A dark blue color overcame the normal purple glow, slightly changing the color of the cavern. "I've been waiting for you, Eshira," a voice echoed in the cavern.

"You're just lucky I wasn't busy," she responded, a bit bored. She soon heard a growl.

"How _dare _you speak that way to me! If―"

"If nothing, Malefor, you can't do anything to me when you're stuck in that crystal," she cut him off swiftly.

"Oh yes, in fact, I can." A small bunch of skeletons emerged from the ground around Eshira, holding up their weapons. She would have fought them, but she was in too small a space. "Now that I've proven my power, we have to get down to business."

The skeletons sunk back down into the ground. "What did you have in mind?" she said.

Malefor let out a laugh. "I have a near infinite number of skeletons at my disposal, but I cannot control them for a very long time." He raised a single skeleton. "I chose you to come here for your superior mind. You must sustain an army of these skeletons."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" she asked, annoyed.

"Simple, hit this skeleton with a fear, and then shadow attack."

"I only have shadow," she said.

Malefor sighed. "Absorb this crystal." She did as she was told, putting her paw gently on the crystal, releasing its energy into her body. A sharp jolt of pain shot through her body, causing her to collapse for a moment. "Get up," Malefor demanded, accompanied Eshira rising to her feet.

"All right, all right, geez." She paused before using the fear, making slight adjustments for her new power. The red rings emerged from her mouth, hitting the skeleton square in the chest, causing it to glow red. She quickly switched to shadow, showering it in baleful black flame.

"That's all, now you just need to give it an order."

"Okay, this is all very helpful, but what am I supposed to do with this army?" she asked, bored even more.

"Simple," he laughed. "All you must do is capture the black dragoness, named Cynder."

Eshira perked up with interest. "And then what?" she asked hopefully.

Malefor laughed once more. "Patience, Eshira. Just one thing at a time. Now, if you go to the crater west of this mountain, there will be a little surprise waiting for you."

She gave a low bow, knowing he was watching, walking backwards out of the cave, following her trail of blood. "Follow," she said to the skeleton forcefully. It obeyed immediately.

_Hah, this is going to be fun. _She thought to herself.

* * *

**Oh noez!! Whats ganna happen to Cynder?? Anyway, I know this chapter took like 10 weeks to put up, and IM SORRY!! CHILL OUT!! We're getting to the good part, so I'll try to update more often.**


	9. Chapter 9

It was almost 6 A.M. at the dragon city when the sun rose over the walls, nearly rebuilt. Slight rays of light slipped through the curtains of the small building that housed a sleeping Spyro. Cynder, who was across the hall, was trying to regain sleep after yet another nightmare when she came in.

"Spyro," she whispered into the room. No response. "Are you awake?"

Spyro stirred. "I wasn't." He rolled over to see Cynder walking towards him. "What's up?" he asked.

Cynder stared at him with the same sad, confused eyes she used on him for the past few days. "Again?" Spyro said, reading her mind. She nodded slowly. "Come on, Cyn, it was just a dream."

Her frightened stare turned into a confused look when Spyro said 'Cyn.' "What'd you call me?" she asked.

"Oh, sorry," he said. "I just…had a dream about that. I won't say it again." Spyro said apologetically.

"No, no, it's fine." She paused a moment. "I kind of like it." Her face was only in a confused pose for just a moment, then the second she remembered her dream she changed her expression.

"Tell me about it, Cyn," Spyro said.

Cynder shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

He shrugged. "Fair enough. But if you didn't want to talk about it, why'd you come see me?"

She sighed deeply. "I needed to make sure you were still…you."

--

Eshira was forced to walk to the west, not being able to fly with the skeleton, which she knew she needed. She looked back at the mountain, hard to see in the dead of night. "Just shut up and keep walking," Malefor said, using the skeleton as a transmitter.

"I never said anything," she said.

"True, but you were thinking it." Eshira didn't respond.

"What am I looking for, exactly?" she asked.

"Just look for the glow." Sure enough, she spotted a rock in a large pile that stood out from all the others. The deep purple glow was easily recognizable as a dark crystal in the night.

She moved the rock aside, revealing the 'surprise,' which was nothing more than a dark crystal necklace. "This is it?" she said, picking it up with her tail. "You've got to be kidding me."

"It's more important than you may think. With this, you can talk to me wherever and whenever you want."

"Can't I talk through the skeletons?" she asked.

"Actually, that was a one-time thing. I used a bit of the crystal in the mountain when I raised this skeleton. You need this crystal to talk to me now." The skeleton by her side disappeared into the ground, appearing as is if it jumped below the earth.

"Now, that being said, time to attack Warfang," Malefor said.

"So soon? Don't I get a break?"

Malefor sighed. "All right, I'll give you a thirty second break, then back to business." A skeleton emerged from the ground, followed by another, two more, then four more, the number of skeletons doubling each time.

"By the time your break is over, there will be an army at least seven times the Warfang population, of all races."

Eshira's good mood instantly disappeared. "Do I have to―"

"Yes, fear and shadow, on every single one of them."

* * *

**Warfang is ganna get pwnt. xD Anyway, summer break's almost here, which means way more chapters way faster. I've also been writing ahead, don't be surprised if there's two chapters submitted within a minute.**


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